ANC delegates reconvene on last day as ‘missing votes’ dispute lingers on

JOHANNESBURG, December 20 – Delegates at the African National Congress (ANC) elective conference on Wednesday afternoon reconvened in plenary on the last day of the dispute-ridden gathering that faces a possible court action from disgruntled members.
The conference has completed voting for the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), whose results would be announced in plenary.
Meanwhile delegates from Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal reportedly had a legal team on standby to challenge the outcome of the vote for the position of secretary general, which fell in favour of Free State Premier Ace Magashule.
Former KwaZulu-Natal premier Senzo Mchunu lost to Magashule with 24 votes, sparking a dispute over ”missing votes” from Mchunu’s camp.
Magashule was on the slate of losing presidential candidate Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s slate, while Mchunu was the favourite on Cyril Ramaphosa’s slate.
Ramaphosa was elected the party’s new president, succeeding President Jacob Zuma who held the post for a decade.
The election agency referred the vote dispute to the ANC steering committee which sat throughout Tuesday in an attempt to resolve the matter.
Steering committee member Jeff Radebe, who earlier addressed the Progressive Business Forum (PBF) breakfast gathering, said the dispute would be dealt with in closed session in plenary.
”We met into the night on Tuesday and received a report from the [electoral] commission. Let’s wait for the commission led by Sindiswa Mfenyana to outline the issues at stake,” he said on the sidelines of the PBF.
There were unconfirmed reports that Magashule would be left in place as secretary general since attempts to solve the mystery of 68 missing votes could have far-reaching repercussions for the conference. North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo has warned that pushing for a recount of the votes cast to elect a secretary general could prompt demands for a rerun of voting for all six the most senior leadership positions in the party.
The last day of the 54th conference will see various commission chairpersons brief media on the outcome of their deliberations on ANC policies. Ramaphosa would then deliver a closing address in open plenary.

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